It finally snowed in Edmonton on the first day of November, starting in the evening and showering all through the following day. It was beautiful to watch. Everywhere looked sparkling white wherever you turned, and the temperatures were “nice” (just a couple of degrees below zero) for a day or two. I had been told that the first snow typically melted away after a day or two, and everywhere would be clear again. This was never to be. More snow came a few days after the first showers as temperatures dropped rapidly, plummeting to -22⁰C within a few days. The snow never left. We piled on the layers of clothing as the weather grew harsher. I tempted the weather once by dashing out briefly without hand gloves at -13⁰C. My hands almost froze, starting from the tips. Winter no be your mate abeg.

Just as quickly as the temperatures dropped, they rose again, peaking at temperatures of 6⁰C or thereabout. I could hardly believe how much I valued above-zero temperatures. With our introductory module to harsh temperatures completed, we moved on to the next module – slippery grounds and freezing rain. I heard of many winter-induced accidents and watched one happen as someone drove onto train tracks while making a left turn across the tracks. It was scary to watch. Although I have managed to stay off the ground so far, I did come close to falling once as I slipped and almost completely lost footing, only managing to stay up by God’s mercy. Gentle reminder: Winter no be your mate ooo.

I was lucky that Reading Week (lecture-free) started just after the snow arrived, so I hardly went out during the week with the lowest temperatures so far. Reading Week was a relief, although I have been wondering how much of a blessing it really was. For one, I read nothing during Reading Week, indulging in Netflix and completing a number of previously deferred tasks. Worse still, when I tried to do some reading as lectures were about to resume, a lot of the material began to look strange to me. I was wondering where I might have encountered them before. One week of break felt like a semester away from my books. I still haven’t gathered back that momentum. I doubt I will. I’m just going to wing it for the rest of the semester. I cannot comman kee myself by myself! Is adult education a joke to you?!

After Reading Week, as I strove to get back into academic rhythm – completing papers, quizzes, assignments, and presentations – my boys were hit with a bout of fever. I had heard a few days before that it was “going around”, even causing a shortage of Tylenol and other acetaminophen-containing medication. Well, it did come around. And my wife and I had to endure a few nights of poor sleep. We first thought our younger son was just feverish due to teething. But then his older brother joined the ‘party’, and they both had to skip a few days of daycare. My purchase of Tylenol at the local Walmart store was limited to one per customer due to the ongoing shortage. Thankfully everyone’s healthy and feeling great again. Somebody shout hallelujah!!!

On a final note, we started regression analysis in our Statistics course – one course that I have found very interesting because I can easily see its potential applications in my past (and likely future) work experiences. It’s also very exciting to see how I can use familiar tools like Microsoft Excel to do very insightful analyses with data sets. I even imagined modeling the amount of sleep that parents of toddlers get. Based on my experience I am confident it is positively correlated with the age of the toddler. Factors like sickness and the presence of a sibling will obviously impact the amount of sleep negatively. When I jokingly mentioned this to my Stats Prof, he responded that it is likely that kind of study has already been conducted. Wahala for who dey follow this man play ooo!!!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!